The present invention relates generally to systems and processes for generating particle beams, and more particularly to a system and method for producing a dense source and beam of negatively charged hydrogen ions.
Intense beams of negative ions have substantial use in applications such as low energy kinetic studies, material property studies, high energy accelerator applications, fast neutral beam generation for controlled thermonuclear fusion studies and directed energy beam weapon devices. Processes for producing negative hydrogen ions may be classified as four general types, viz., double charge exchange for converting a positive ion beam into a negative ion beam, surface generation of negative ions from charged particle bombardment, laser focus generation and electrical discharge generation, which usually involve one or more of hydrogen plasma generation, arc production at high currents and voltages, high magnetic field generation or hydrogen excitation and electron capture. Prior art processes generally lack capability for generating beams of intensity sufficient for intense negative ion sources or for fast neutral beam generation and are usually pulsed devices with low duty factors.
The invention provides a method for generating an extremely dense source of atomic or ionic hydrogen for generation of an intense negative hydrogen ion beam. Atomic or ionic hydrogen is extracted from a metal hydride by electrical resistance, electron beam, microwave or laser heating. An electron beam is directed against the surface of the hydride or a charge is applied to the hydride in order to ionize the hydrogen atoms or to prevent the ions from losing charge, and ions so produced are then accelerated electrically as a directed beam.
It is therefore a principal object of the invention to provide a method for generating a particle beam.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a method for directly producing an intense source of negative hydrogen ions.
It is yet a further object of the invention to provide a method for directly producing a negative hydrogen ion beam.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent as a detailed description of representative embodiments proceeds.